The Esoteric Nature of the Anthroposophical Society

The Esoteric Nature of the Anthroposophical Society

In 2012, two books by Sergei O. Prokofieff (Why Become a Member of the Anthroposophical Society and Why Become a Member of the School of Spiritual Science) were published. The Esoteric Nature of the Anthroposophical Society is the third and final book in this series.

“With regard to the question of the esoteric nature of the Anthroposophical Society, the answer most often follows that this esotericism is primarily connected with the Independent School for Spiritual Science. It is less often taken into consideration, however, that at the Christmas Conference Rudolf Steiner ascribed to the Anthroposophical Society itself a decidedly esoteric character, which since then was to permeate all of its activities. Only when this is achieved can the Society fulfill its central task in our time: ‘to unite the greatest conceivable openness with genuine, true esotericism” -Rudolf Steiner

About the Author

Sergei O. Prokofieff (1954-2014) was born in Moscow, where he studied fine arts and painting at the Moscow School of Art. At an early age he encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner and quickly realized that his life would be dedicated to the Christian path of esoteric knowledge. He wrote his first book, Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries, while living in Soviet Russia, and it was published in English in 1994. After the fall of Communism, he helped establish the Anthroposophical Society in Russia. In 2001, he became a member of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. More than 30 of his books have been translated into English. Sergei Prokofieff passed away in Dornach, Switzerland.

Thomas O’Keefe discovered Anthroposophy while studying philosophy at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2007. He founded the newsletter Deepening Anthroposophy in 2012, has been a student at the Seminary of the Christian Community in North America, has done editing and translating work for SteinerBooks, Temple Lodge Publishing, Wynstones Press, Occident Verlag, and Inner Work Books, and has been a coworker at the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy in Arlesheim, Switzerland. He currently works as the editorial director of Chadwick Library Edition, a project that aims to publish new or revised translations of twelve of Rudolf Steiner’s core written works in special hardcover editions.